What Can You Catch From Restrooms?

Healthy immune system or not, there is much you can do to avoid being a walking, talking, deadly virus. Firstly, wash your damn hands! It is the key to avoiding any germs left from a previous carrier. With hot water, lather up (with soap) for 20 to 30 seconds, not the one or two ticks you usually spend. Wash your palms and backs of your hands, in between your fingers and under your fingernails. The friction you generated has just killed off the deadliest of the bathroom bacteria.

When in the bathroom stall, you can use your foot to flush if you're sick or think your immune system is weakened. The toilet surface is just another place crawling with sickly potential. When you do flush, make sure you exit the stall immediately after, or else the airborne particles that fly around after you press the lever can get into your lungs and give you a cough or cold. Now, we don't mean you have to fly outta there like a bat out of hell, but don't stand around for the fun of it — you did the deed, move on.

Use toilet seat covers where available if you're going to sit or generous strips of toilet paper to cover the seat, avoiding contact of bacteria with your bottom. When you're done, be courteous to your fellow bathroom users and push your toilet paper seat cover into the bowl with your hand or foot, or throw the seat cover in the garbage in the stall.

Tear off paper towels to turn on the faucet and open the door when exiting the bathroom, otherwise touching the metallic surfaces negates your thorough hand-washing. These are all straightforward, simple, logical steps everyone should take to maintain a more sanitary lifestyle. You can now shake somebody's hand and exchange greetings, instead of diseases.

what can't you catch?

Scary as it seems, organisms known to carry STDs like chlamydia and gonorrhea have been found on toilet seats in your local restroom. Yet, unless you have a moderate butt laceration, there is little chance you'll get the clap. Infections such as these are called sexually transmitted for a reason; they need a genital tract or cut to travel into, which is not likely to occur.

Not only that, but these germs (and other diarrhea-causing bacteria) have a short life span and quickly die after being exposed on the seat, in the sink or anywhere else. Even in the case that you do come into contact with a germ or virus, there has to be a fair amount of it for it to have any effect.

If you sit on urine or get sprayed by toilet water as you flush — besides being completely revolted — there is a small chance of infection, just like any other bacteria in the washroom. It's best to wipe off the seat before you get comfortable. Don't be a bum.

quick tips to go

Avoid contact with any surface in the bathroom: cover the toilet seat with paper; use towels to turn on faucets and open doors.

Close the lid of the toilet (if there is one) before flushing to block nasty airborne particles.

While you don't have to be obsessive-compulsive about good hygiene, you can't go to the other extreme and trust that favorable statistics and a good immune system will save you.

Aside from washing your hands frequently, carrying some wet wipes or hand sanitizer will provide adequate protection. Using your wrist or a paper towel to open doors and faucets can cut your germ exposure as well.

Despite the relatively high amount of germs present in public bathrooms, it is very simple to avoid any potential problems by following a few steps. Using common sense as a guide, there is no reason to be anxious in the bathroom. Unless you've got the runs...